Home

If you are interested in projects in summer or fall or any time of the year, you can choose to do it in one of the following ways:

• ME 491 (1-2 cr. hours) is suitable for all undergraduate students with senior standing. This is generally taken by students who are interested in undergraduate research and may want an extra credit hour or two for their graduation.
  Consider this! Undergraduate Research makes your resume stand out from other resumes that may not have these.
• ME 597 (3 credit hours) are suitable for students in the combined BS/MS program (non-thesis option) or graduate students in the MS program (non-thesis option).
• ME698 is suitable for students in the combined BS/MS program (thesis option) or graduate students in the MS or PhD programs (thesis option).  
• Other short-term project topics are available with me that could give you some research experience.

NOTE:  ME491 requires a technical report; ME 597 and ME697 require a project report and presentation in front a jury of faculty;  Students in the thesis option programs are required to defend their thesis in front of a committee. Please click on the Outcomes link in the above course pages to get an idea of what is expected of you in these courses. Other requirements are as posted by the Graduate Office.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What are your current research projects/ topics?

FUNDED PROJECTS: 

• Oxygen and Fuel Jet Diffusion Flame Studies Motivated by Spacecraft Fire Safety (NASA)

• Waste Heat Recovery System  for Heavy Duty Truck Diesel Engines- Design and Concept Evaluation (Cummins)

COURSE PROJECTS:

•  A MATLAB Code for 2D Conduction and Convection Heat Transfer Calculations (ME 505)

• Effect of Uncertainties in Soot Refractive Index on Flame Radiation Calculations (ME 505)

OTHERS

• Ergonomic Design of a Measurements Bench in the CPRL  (ME 462)

• Zero Emissions and High Efficiency Thermodynamic Cycles for Power Generation (MURI, ME 491)

• Teaching Tools for Thermodynamic Property Determination

2. If I am interested in summer research what topics are available with you?

Projects are likely to involve the above topics in general and additional related topics. So, if you are interested in a specific project, email me and we can discuss further.  The following topics are of general interest to me:

• Physical and Combustion Characterization of Biofuels

• Particulate Matter Sensors for Emissions Monitoring

• Biological Sensors and Devices for Health Monitoring

• Economic Aspects of Combined Heat and Power Generation (CHP)

• Development of Teaching Tools for Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics

Alternatively, if you have some project ideas, I can work with you to define and develop it further into a clear project.

3. What about stipends?

UROP applications can be made to give you some stipend while you work on your undergraduate research. MURI projects carry stipends. If interested, you can work on this further as part of a BSMS thesis or non-thesis project.  If you have a novel idea and want to develop it further, please contact me and we can find a suitable source of funding and get the stipend for you!

4. What are the typical tasks on the project?

Your tasks will typically involve contacting vendors, purchasing lab equipment, instrumentation and supplies, designing and fabricating fixtures for instruments, performing experiments, data acquisition, observation, documentation and analysis, traveling to other locations for experiments. There may be opportunities to go to technical conferences, present your research and meet with industry and academic experts in the field.

5. How often do we meet and what else is required of me?

Weekly/ bimonthly research meetings and departmental seminar presentations each semester are expected of our thesis students.

6. Do you have a reporting format for the weekly meetings?

Yes. Weekly research meetings typically involve updates in the form of a report. Please click here for a template.

Home

Last updated: February 17, 2006, 5:00 PM